Flight cancellations- everyone’s worst nightmare.

“Go into traveling open minded…” I told myself before taking the job with Taziki’s. I want it to be something I truly enjoy, which I have and always will cherish seeing new areas.

Unfortunately, my first trip didn’t go as expected. It was a slap in the face real quick when it comes to the “real-world”.

Before I go into details, I want to let you all know this was my first time flying alone. No mom, no dad, no help. Which I embrace in everything as apart of living on my own.

The original plan to get home looked like this:

Fly from Charlotte to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Nashville.

The actual plan went like this:

Flew from Charlotte to Atlanta, booked a rental car and stopped halfway around 1 a.m. Finished the trip on Thursday morning.

It really does not sound too crazy. Now that I think about it, it wasn’t either. But having to deal with adversity on the spot is something I am almost glad happened.

What made it tough was that pretty much the entire Atlanta airport was shutdown and I was way behind the 8-ball in terms of getting another flight, hotel room, or rental car since we got into Atlanta so late.

So we landed in Atlanta, I immediately broke out my computer and looked for flights back home. $600, $650 and higher, no thanks.

All rental cars were booked but something inside of me made me want to try. I found a quiet corner and made a call to Dollar, a car rental agency. Got linked up with someone at their headquarters who booked me a one-way rental car. I was hyped and thought I was good to go.

Finally found the car rental desks, which were jammed packed with people. I began to second guess if I ACTUALLY had a car waiting for me. It seemed TOO good to be true.

Went up to the desk of Dollar, explained very nicely about my conversation 30 minutes ago and all I got was a big laugh and was told “Ah man, no way, I have no car for you.”

It took me a minute to comprehend what I was actually told. “That is just a big glitch in our system, man,” he told me.

I ended up being able to explain the entire situation and eventually got a rental car from Dollar, 30 minutes later. In the past, my emotions would of gotten the best of me and I wouldn’t of kept my cool. I keep thinking about killing him with kindness. Slowly and slowly I kept doing it and it paid off.

As our conversation continued, I could tell that progress was being made and to be honest, I didn’t think it would work. People were coming up the same desk asking for rental cars and another Dollar employee pushed them away real quick. As more and more people kept getting denied I knew I had to try harder.

Alright, so I’m not the best at telling stories. To the important stuff…

Remain calm no matter any situation, always treat people with kindness, think outside the box, and make sure you get Chick-fil-a BEFORE you leave for a flight that will get delayed two hours on the runway.